A comprehensive sub-grid air entrainment model for RaNS modeling of free-surface bubbly flows

Abstract

The simulation of free surface bubbly flows using a two-fluid model remains a challenging problem in part due to the lack of a comprehensive air entrainment model that can predict the rate and location of air entrainment for a wide range of flows. In this study we derive a sub-grid model and implement it in a computational multiphase fluid dynamics (CMFD) framework to solve the Reynolds-averaged two-fluid equations. We assess the performance of our model in simulating bubbly flows underneath a plunging liquid jet and a hydraulic jump while varying the characteristic velocity. We compare the void fraction predictions with their experimental counterparts and conclude that the air entrainment model and the two-fluid modeling approach yield accurate results everywhere for the plunging jet and in the turbulent shear layer for the hydraulic jump. The inability of the proposed approach to recover the high void fraction in the roller region of the hydraulic jump is attributed to the failure of RaNS model to resolve the large coherent vortices observed in this region.